Pretty Petty
by TriDogMom
Summary: Prompt: "Damn right I'm pretty." "I said petty."


**Prompt: "Damn right I'm pretty."**

**"I said petty."**

* * *

Hermione smoothed down the satin of her purple dress as she stepped towards the Floo in her flat. It was the five year anniversary of the Final Battle, and the Ministry was holding a celebration ball. The idea of celebrating a day when so many lost their lives was tacky, in her opinion, but the Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, had made it clear that her attendance was mandatory.

At first, she didn't think it would be too bad; at least there would be free alcohol, and she and her friends could pretend they were just out to dinner and ignore everyone else until the stupid speeches she and Harry were required to give. If she was honest with herself, she was looking forward to the dancing. She occasionally went out to the clubs with Harry, Ginny, Ron, Dean, and Seamus, and a few others in Muggle London or Dublin, but she enjoyed ballroom dancing to dry humping under disco lights.

Her dreams of an Order of the Phoenix members-only table were soon crushed when Kingsley told her of his ridiculous plan. In order to raise money for a charity for war orphans to buy Hogwarts supplies, he was seating each member of the Golden Trio at a different table. Then, he was auctioning off the remaining seats to the highest bidders.

It wasn't that she thought the charity or the funds it would raise was a bad idea. It was the fact that she would most likely be surrounded by lecherous old men or people who wanted to spend the night praising her— both of which sounded like a headache waiting to happen.

_Ron will be happy. His table will be filled with whimpering slags wanting to spread their legs faster than he'll be able to fill them. _She didn't begrudge him his fun— Merlin knew she had engaged in a one night stand more than a few times— but after the third case of the magical equivalent of the clap, you would think he would learn.

Smiling at her friend's medical problems, she grabbed a handful of Floo powder, threw it into the flames, and called, "Ministry of Magic!"

XXX

Hermione kept to the shadows as she entered the transformed Atrium and looked for her table. She saw Harry and Ginny had already arrived and were standing by their table with Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, Kingsley, and his new wife, Andromeda. The table to the left of them had to be Ron's. It was half full of women with dresses that clung to everything and all seemed to be missing most of the top half. Hermione couldn't hold back her snort of laughter when she noticed all of them were old enough to be his mum.

Hermione stopped dead as she looked at her table. It was even worse than a table full of perverted old men wanting her to lick their wrinkly, old bollocks (and yes, a few had offered her just that over the years… They didn't describe the look of their testicles, she could just tell). Instead of that, she would be sitting with the manwhore Cormac McLaggen, pompous Justin Flinch-Fletchley, and Ernie "Microdick" McMillion, at least according to Padma Patil. The rest of the table wouldn't be too bad. There was Theo "I'm gay but refuse to accept it" Nott, Blaise "Italian Stallion" Zabini— the amazing one night they spent together confirmed his nickname to be true, the saint that was George Weasley who she knew only bought a seat so she would have a friendly face to see, and Draco "Ferret-Face" Malfoy.

Okay, maybe Draco's nickname wasn't true anymore. His features had grown less pointed every year, Aand now that he didn't slick his hair back like a 1950's movie star, he had grown quite handsome. But being turned into a ferret wasn't something people forgot, so the name stayed.

None of the men were sitting at the table. Instead, they were all standing behind the chairs and seemed to be having a quiet, but heated discussion about something. As she moved closer, their words floated towards her.

"We dated at Hogwarts; she will sit by me," McLaggen growled.

"One date where she had to hide to get away from you isn't dating, idiot," Blaise said, shaking his head.

"Hermione will want to sit by someone of higher intellect," came Justin's voice. She rolled her eyes. "She will sit next to me."

Scanning the group, she realized her safest bet would be between George and Blaise. One was like her brother, and if she was going to get groped under the table by any of these men, might as well be Blaise. At least he was a man she would actually consent to have his hands roam her thighs. Making sure none of the men spotted her, she slipped between her chosen pair, grabbed their hands and moved to sit down. She saw annoyance flash across the eyes of the rest of the men as they looked at her—except Theo, his eyes were on George. _Interesting_.

Dinner was just as horrible as she expected it to be. McLaggen, Justin, and Ernie spent the entire meal talking about themselves at every available chance. Draco and Blaise talked about their work at Malfoy Enterprises, something that Hermione found interesting but couldn't listen to because of the three idiots across from her talking so loud. She did smile a few times at the way George and Theo were talking, moving slightly closer to each other without realizing it. She hoped Theo would _finally_ accept who he was. It seemed like George was interested, and the two of them would have fun together. Blaise's hand rested on her thigh and she jumped every time he moved his pinky to just barely brush across her pussy.

Currently, Kingsley was finishing up his speech about unity, or something equally as cliche, and she tuned out. She had listened to Harry and thought her own speech had gone well. She focused on how much work they still had to do, same as Harry. The sound of chairs moving back snapped her out of her thoughts. Evidently Kingsley had finished and it was time to dance.

Three very loud offers to dance were sent her way from the idiots, but she ignored them in favour of Blaise's outstretched hand. Spinning around the room, she allowed herself to enjoy dancing with someone that actually knew what they were doing. He spent the song flirting with her and letting her know that if she wanted to, his bed was open to her for the night.

As the song ended, he left a lingering kiss on her cheek before placing her hand in Draco's outstretched one. She had spent time around Draco in the years after they left school. While she wouldn't really consider him a close friend, he was often at any event that included Dean Thomas, and they got on well.

The first year after the war, Dean had done some research into finding out who his birth father was. His mum was a Muggle and had no photographs of his father, but she told Dean what he looked like. Being a talented artist, Dean took her words and did a sketch that she said was pretty accurate. When he showed it to them, Hermione said it looked like Blaise. Two weeks and a DNA potion later, they discovered they were brothers. Since then, they often invited each other to come along when they were going out. Blaise was rarely seen out of the company of Draco and Theo, so they were often there as well.

"You know Blaise is just looking to get in your bed, don't you?" Draco said as placed one hand on her waist and grabbed her hand with the other. "He's not even _that_ good-looking."

"Draco, you are so petty," she said with a shake of her head.

"Damn right I'm pretty."

"I said petty."

"I'm not being petty! I just don't think he's that attractive."

"That is because you like women."

"I just don't see why you want to go home with him, Granger."

"I don't want to go home with him," she sighed. "You know he's a big flirt, and I don't want to deal with the other men at the table."

"So that's why you allowed him to rub your pussy under the table?" he asked with a look on his face that clearly said _Are you fucking kidding me?_ "Do you think I couldn't see?"

"I didn't _ask_ him to! And I thought it would cause a scene if I pushed him away." _Plus it felt good, and who doesn't like that?_

"So you didn't want him to? Should I have Potter arrest him for molesting you?" he sneered at her.

"What in the hell is your problem, Malfoy?"

In all the times they had spent time together, he had never spoken to her this way. Their tentative friendship had been awkward at first, but they'd both been polite to each other. As the years passed, they progressed to laughing and joking.

"My problem, _Hermione_," he said, emphasising her given name that he never used, "is that you are letting him use you. There are men who want to be with you for more than one night, and instead, you're focusing on the one man you know won't want more than that."

"So I should be focusing on McLaggen?" she spat at him. "Or is there someone here who you think is better for me? Since you _obviously_ don't think I am capable of finding someone appropriate on my own."

"Of course there's someone better!"

"Who? Name this person who is so much b—,"

"Me." He cut her off.

"Wait." She stared at him, thinking she must have heard him wrong. "What?"

"I know you heard me," he said, his voice much calmer and quieter than it had been.

"You? _You_ want to be with me?"

It came out ruder than she intended. She was honestly floored. It wasn't because of who Draco had been at school; she knew he had changed and was a decent person. She even knew she didn't care about her parentage anymore. Her shock came from the fact that he had never given any indication that he felt more than friendship with her.

"I know you're better than me, but you don't have to sound so disgusted by it," he said, dejection clear on his face.

"Hey," she said, moving her hand from his shoulder to tip his face up. "I'm surprised, not disgusted."

"Really?" His face was hopeful.

"I'm not promising you anything, but maybe we could get out of here and talk?"

Walking her towards their table, he grabbed his suit jacket. Nodding goodbye to Theo and George who were still sitting and talking, he placed Hermione's arm in his and lead her to the fireplaces.

"I assume you don't want the rumors that will come if we leave together, so I will Floo home then over to yours?"

Hermione looked around the room. A few people were looking at them, including Ginny who had a huge grin on her face. She watched as McLaggen stepped away from his dance partner and started towards them. Making up her mind, she reached out to grab Draco by his tie and pull him towards her.

"Let them talk," she said.

Pressing her lips hard against his, she felt the moan that escaped from his mouth at the contact. She heard more than one person exclaim as they kissed, including a wolf whistle that she knew came from Ginny. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Draco broke the kiss.

"You're in for a fun night, Granger," Draco said, pulling her towards the Floo and loudly calling out her flat.


End file.
